The Writers of Wales Database

CONSTANTINE, MARY-ANN

Mary-Ann Constantine has led the Iolo Morganwg Project at the University of Wales Centre for Advanced Welsh and Celtic Studies for the last five years. Her current interest in issues of authenticity has grown out of previous work on the interaction of written and oral forms in various European languages during the Romantic period.

Mary-Ann took her first degree in English Literature at Clare College, Cambridge (1988-1991), and stayed on to do a Ph.D in Breton folklore. She moved to Aberystwyth in 1995 and held a succession of Research Fellowships in the Welsh Department, University of Wales, Aberystwyth. During this period she taught various topics in Welsh and Celtic Studies, and continued her work on the ballad tradition in Brittany.

Mary-Ann’s main interest is in the literature and the literary lives of the Romantic period, and especially in the interactions between ’high’ and ’low’ forms, and between oral and written sources.

Reviews:
With respect to The Breathing (Planet, 2008)

"…A considerable achievement…"
Stevie Davies


Selected Publications:
Breton Ballads (CMCS Publications, 1996)
Ballads in Wales (Folklore Society, 1998)
The Truth Against the World: Iolo Morganwg and Romatic Forgery (University of Wales Press, 2007)
The Breathing (Planet, 2008)

Contributed to:
Fragments and Meaning in Traditional Song: From the Blues to the Baltic (co-writer) (Oxford University Press, 2003)
Combustible Matter: Iolo Morganwg and the Bristol Volcano (editor) (Canolfan Uwchefrydiau Cymreig a Cheltaidd Prifysgol Cymru, 2003)
The Reception of Ossian in Europe (Reception of British and Irish Authors in Europe) (contributor) (Continuum, 2009)